Edgar nominee and Shamus Award-winner Max Allan Collins a bestselling author whose graphic novel Road to Perdition is the foundation of a DreamWorks film due out in March turns his attention to the evolution of his favorite form in The History of Mystery, a gift book and reference tome for all whodunit fans. Nearly 400 illustrations (of dime novel covers, comic strips, movie posters and album graphics) reveal the genre in all its garish glory, while Collins's text considers all the usual suspects, from Poe to Pinkerton to Poirot and beyond. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Footprints, a smoking revolver, broken glass . . . Whodunit? Get to the bottom of things with Max Allan Collins, who puts the enigmatic, endlessly fascinating world of the mystery genre under the magnifying glass in "The History of Mystery." Collins tracks the modern detective story from its birth in Allan Pinkerton's Memoirs to its fullest flowering in the fiction of Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Ross MacDonald. En route, Collins explores the rich narrative and visual history of detective comics and the legacy of mystery in radio, television, and film noir. Arguably the most comprehensive survey ever published, "The History of Mystery" is sure to please the most discriminating sleuth.

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